Between Light and Dark
by shadowwriter01
Summary: A young Mandalorian warrior with a complicated heritage discoveres the legacy of a legendary man, who was always standing between Jedi and Sith. Based on a Challenge by timbarney110. Theoretical canon versions of Revan and Exar Kun.


**This story is in response on a Challenge by timbarney110. It will be most likely a one shot.**

* * *

**Between Light and Dark**

_The star system of Mandalore, during the last year of the Clone Wars_

It was a graveyard, a grypt, located on a small moon somewhere in the home-system of Mandalore... and yet not quite.

Because there was no body lying here somewhere inside.

The `grave´ was empty. Simply because the body of the man it had once been build for, had been cremented on a pyre... as it was Jedi tradition.

But the people of the old Mandalore had found it still proper to build a giant, temple like, mausoleum in his honor.

It was the crypt of Tarre Visla - the legendary Warrior and Jedi Master, who had become ruler of Mandalore thousands of years ago.

The first wearer and creator of the Dark Saber, that became a symbol for the power over the planet and it´s people.

It was a memorial. Set up thousands of years ago to honor the now long dead Jedi Master.

A crypt in old mandalorian style, build for a man who had fought both for and against the Madalorian Clans during his lifetime...

... in the conflict that should go down in history as the Mandalorian Wars and the Sith Wars.

Tarre Visla had been a man of many contradictions for sure.

He had however also been something else.

Unknown to most, he had also been a teacher and friend of one of the most infamous men in history - a man who had over time been both, Jedi and Sith... Revan.

**xxxxxxx**

It was now nearly a week ago, that an expedition founded by the provisorical government of Mandalore had discovered the ancient crypt.

At any other time this fact would have probably been dominating the news all over the planet and probably the entire space sector.

But in **this** times, barely anyone took notice.

Because right now, the planet was in chaos.

After the attempted take-over of Death Watch – a mandalorian traditionalist terrorist organization and their allies... and the following death of both - Duchess Satine and the Death Watch leader Pre Visla by the hands of the Sith called Darth Maul, Mandalore had been thrown into civil war.

Right now, the planet and it´s citizens had other worries.

But even that was not enough to completely put down the excitement of the members of the expedition about their found.

They knew sooner or later the situation of the planet would stabilize and then the people would finally take notice of their found. And then they would all become famous.

But they realized soon that somebody **had **already noticed. Just not the people they had hoped for.

**xxx**

The group of soldiers from Death Watch had arrived in the early morning, completely taking the archeologists and their small security-team by surprise.

They had been quickly overwhelmed with barely any bloodshet.

In this moment the Death Watch members were taking control of the area.

And with the situation Mandalore was in, they could be relatively sure that nobody on the homeworld would react to their presence for some time.

The soldiers were still securing the place, as their leader was already stepping inside the ancient monument.

He had been a member of Death Watch since his early youth. In complete secret at the beginning. For good reasons given his identity.

He was in the typical mandalorian armor that all members of Death Watch were wearing. With the addition of a black cape.

It was the traditional garb of the warriors of Mandalore. The same history that Death watch was trying to revive.

But there was also one significant visible difference between him and the other Death Watch members... He was wearing a lightsaber.

The true thing however that was different about him from the other men, was not simply the weapon. It was the Force.

But he was not a Jedi. He was something different.

As he took of his helmet, he revealed the face of a young man with light brown hair, maybe not even in his twenties.

His name was Taris Kryze. He was nobody else than the son of the late Duchess Satine.

He had been born after a short mysterious affair that she had in her youth.

Before taking her position as head of the planet and even before meeting and her `relationship´ with the Jedi Obi Wan.

While the members of the government and some of the higher ranks of society were completely aware about him and his relationship to their ruler, most of the public were not.

He knew under different circumstances he would have probably resented his mother for keeping his existence a secret like that.

But he was a intelligent young man. He knew his mothers had many enemies in and outside of Madalore and it had probably been the best way to protect him.

He could not help to respect her for her convictions, even if he didn´t share them. He saw things more like his aunt Bo Terek, who he admitted he had always been closer to than his mother.

A Mandalore that completely shirked and forgot it´s warrior traditions was not longer Mandalore.

Of course he had sometimes doubts about Death Watch and their violent methods as well. But in comparison to a Mandalore devoid of it´s culture and what made it what it was, he considered it a necessary evil.

It was also his aunt who had brought him into Death Watch. Of course only after he had asked her to and without revealing his relation to the Duchess.

Despite all that, his relationship with his mother had not really been bad.

Well, it had however not been particular good either. It was... distant. It was just that she had most of the time been occupied with her responsibilities. So she never had much time.

The identity of his father however had always been a secret to him.

His father was not Obi Wan. His mother explained that to him early. Even if he believed it for a while, given strength in the Force.

She never said much about him.

Only that he was a idealistic and very charismatic politician, who had first supported her when Mandalore had been ripped apart by war in her youth.

Yes – like it was ripped apart by war **now**. It seemed some things never truly changed, he thought.

Still, as he was a child, Obi Wan was probably the closest he had in his mind to the picture of a father. Even if he did´t meet the Jedi very often either.

It was also Obi Wan who had first shown him the basics of the Force during his youth. Even if he had never shown interest of being a Jedi himself.

It as only a couple of years ago that this young man had learned the entire truth about his heritage – or at least what he thought was the entire truth... the identity of his father.

Sheev Palpatine - at that time Senator - and now Chancelor of the Republic.

He understood instantly why Satine had kept this a secret even from him. As many enemies as she had, it were nothig against the Chancelor´s.

Not to mention it could possible damage the man´s carrier if it came out he had an illegitimate child with the Duchess of Mandalore of all people.

But even that had only been the half truth.

**xxx**

It was only a few months ago that he found out the true unbelievable secret behind his father.

Palpatine was Darth Sidious - Dark Lord and last Master of the Sith.

Or better said, his father himself told him. As it turned out he had known about him the entire time and simply kept his distance.

Until the day he heard that Taris had finally left Mandalore and joined the Death Watch. The day he was ready.

**xxx**

But all that also meant that Palpatine was the force ultimately responsible for most of the tragedies that had befallen the galaxy during the last years.

The Clone Wars - it was known in his circles that Count Dooku, the leader of the Separatists was said to be a Sith. The Naboo Crisis - that had ultimately made him Chancellor.

Palpatine had trained the Sith who had murdered his mother. Even if he had not been directly responsible.

**xxxxxxx**

_The present_

Taris walked through the corridors of the ancient tomb in a quick pace. In one room he saw the artifacts the archeologists had already discovered lined up.

But he only gave them a short look and then walked pass them.

They were not what he had come for.

But he knew here, somewhere inside this mausoleum, was something for him. He knew.

He had felt it in the Force as he heard about the discovery these archeologists had made. That was also what he had said to convince his aunt to let him and his team come here.

He let the Force guide him through the deeper corridors.

**xxxxxxx**

After his father had revealed himself to him nearly four months ago, he received some training from him.

What Palpatine´s reasons were however, he wasn´t sure.

But he was not foolish enough to believe he did it out of some kind of fatherly affection.

As he had got to know the man... the true man behind the mask, he embodied the twisted values of the Sith Order like barely another living being he could imagine.

If he had decided for some reason to train him and even teach him some pieces of Sith knowledge, then it was certainly for some other underlying reason.

Still, Palpatine´s offer to train him further was too good to pass up. Especially given the situation their planet was in.

**xxx**

He remembered one of his last training sessions with Palpatine.

He had then hinted to him that he had one very promising potential apprentice. Someone who was `nearly like a son to him´.

Taris really considered killing the bastard after hearing these callous words.

He started to think while Palpatine talked.

Was he planning to let him and this apprentice candidate – whoever he was – fight against each other? Just to see who was the better one.

Such and other thoughts went through his head.

Had he sired him just to have another possible servant at his disposal?

Had he perhaps seduced his mother from the beginning just to have a puppet to place on the throne of Mandalore? To rule it in the name of the Sith?

Had he maybe been planning Satine´s death right from the start?

As this thoughts came to him, he finally lost it. He attacked Palpatine in an uncontrollable rage.

Him killing Darth Sidious? In retrospect it was obvious how ridiculous this thought was.

Palpatine moved faster than his eye could even see. He parried his strikes as if they were nothing.

A few moments later he found himself disarmed and telekinetically pressed to the next wall.

But Palpatine only smiled and nearly cheerfully congratulated him to discovering the depths of his anger. Now however he needed to master his rage and get it under control, he explained.

With that words he had ended the training match.

During their last session he had finally constructed his own lightsaber, instead of the trainigs-weapon Palpatine had given to him.

A blood-red blade, just like a Sith.

With that he had send him back to his aunt and Death Watch. For the time being.

It had crossed Taris mind to warn the Jedi and the Republic about Palpatine. But he dismissed the thougth quickly.

He was a member of Death Watch after all. The chance of them believing him about their own Chancellor were slim.

And beside that Palpatine had warned him that he had countermeasures in place to make sure Mandalore would be devastated if his Sith identity would be revealed.

**xxxxxxx**

He walked deeper into the corridors of the ancient crypt.

It was as if something was calling out to him.

After another minute he reached a dead end. He just activated his lightsaber and used it to cut cleanly through the stones of the wall.

He moved it in a circle to create a small opening and then used the force to pull it out. Leaving a hole in the wall.

Then he saw it. The object he had come for.

It was a holocron. He had seen them a few times before. A recording device accessed by the Force.

But it was not one of the Jedi, he realized. He had seen one like this before as well, but only once.

It was a Sith Holocron. Palpatine had shown him one once and allowed him to learn from it. But only a little bit.

What was this doing here? Here inside the tomb of a Jedi Master?

He activated it and the device came to life. It showed a small projection of a figure in a dark cloak and with a mask.

The Sith Lord who had created the holocron a long time ago.

_"Welcome student of the Force,"_ the figure said. _"I am Darth Revan."_

Revan - he remembered the name as both, one of the most infamous Jedi **and** Sith in history.

It was not even completely sure on what side of the Force he had been at the end of his life.

And he doubted that a holocron, recorded years before his death, would give him much answers to this particular question.

"Lord Revan," he addressed the holocron politely, "could you explain to me your connection to Lord Tarre Visla? For some reason I have fund your holocron inside the tomb of the Jedi Master. Do you have an possible explanation for this?"

_"Indee. Like most Force Users I had many teachers during my life. Out of all the ones I had during my life there were four who were the most important,"_ Revan´s hologram replied.

_"First Kreia - my first Jedi Master, she however had ideas that very soon were rejected by the Jedi Council and she left the Order. Then Tarre- my second Jedi Master. From him I also learned much about the Mandalorian culture. _

_So this is most likely also the reason my holocron was hidden on his graveside my Student_."

"I see," Taris stated. "Lord Revan - who were the other two of the teachers you mentioned?"

_"The ones I have just told you were once my most important teachers as a Jedi. _

_But there are also my teachers in the dark. The first was a man named Kraine. He was the one who had first introduced me to the Dark Side._

_The one I learned the most from about the Dark Side however... was the holocron of the Ancient Sith Lord Exar Kun."_

Kun? This name was even more infamous than Revan´s own, Taris remembered.

**xxx**

According to the histories of both the Jedi and the Sith, Exar Kun was said to be the greatest of the Dark Lords of the older Empire.

It was said to be him who had once conquered Coruscant in the name of the Sith... over 5.000 years ago.

He had been the mightiest ruler of the galaxy at that time.

But that was mostly because he had waged one of the most brutal wars against the Republic and gained so much of it´s territory, including the Republic´s Capital World itself.

During his reign he was also responsible for the complete devastation of an entire line of worlds. Under them - as the stories says - the legendary Jedi Bibliothek World of Ossus.

But in the end it was hard to tell how much of this stories were truly fact and how much was myth.

One thing that was sure about however, was that Kun had been one of - if not the most powerful - and terrifying Dark Lords in history.

It was he who had actually successfully conquered Coruscant... and the Sith had kept it years after his death.

It was him, who had waged one of the most destructive wars of all time.

It was under him, that the Older Sith Empire had reached it´s greatest expanse.

**xxx**

Revan however was generally considered to be part of the Dark Ages – the Sith rule over most of the galaxy - or the time right before, that was known as the Fall of the Old Republic...

… over 1000 years after Kun´s time – 3000 or 4000 years ago.

It was quite surprising to find out that two Dark Lords so far apart would have such a connection.

But Revan had also always been one of the most mysterious Sith Lords.

Not much was known about his heritage... or his true motivations. The historians were not even completely sure if at the end of his life, he had been a Sith or a Jedi.

Only that he had been a Jedi Knight who had turned to the Dark Side after encountering the Sith Empire at one point.

By what he had read about Revan´s tactics and his power however, he could have eventually become just as dangerous as Kun, if not more. Especially if he learned from him.

But for some reason he didn´t. He didn´t leave a lasting Empire after his demise. No monuments of power of weapons for his successors.

Not even a holocron.

Until now, Taris thought.

Some say because he didn´t want to.

Instead he had plunged the Sith of the newer Empire into a Civil War.

And some said this had been his endgame all along. Revan´s ultimate alliance had been to the Jedi... and that his true loyalties had never changed... even as he had fallen into the darkness.

But that had been a controverse under the Jedi historians for centuries.

**xxx**

But Taris also knew that his father could surpass both of them, if his plans to take over the Republic from the inside succeeded.

"Lord Revan - tell me, how exactly did you fall to the Dark Side? It is something the history records were never quite sure of."

The hologram showed a short pause at the question. It was a simulation of cause. A replication of course of how the true Revan would have reacted.

_"I can imagine that this is certainly a matter that historians would disagree over,"_ he stated. _"The truth is even I myself am not completely sure,"_ the hologram admitted.

_"The first time I came close to the Dark Side was probably as early as in the First Mandalorian Wars. _

_The Clans of Mandalore had been expanding their territory for years at that point and had begun to invade independant systems. _

_But finally the Republic and the Jedi Order were fighting back and war broke out._

_I had still been a apprentice - a Padawan - when the war had broken out. But I reached my Knighthood after the first battles._

_The fighting however escalated and became more and more brutal. We were pushing the Mandalorians back, but at a heavy price._

_Millions on both sides died. Towns had been obliterated and entire colonies devastated."_

**xxx**

And that was not even the end of it, Taris knew.

Centuries later followed the second Mandalorian War... that ended with the complete destruction of most of the planet Mandalore itself.

Damage that was still noticable even in this own time.

**xxx**

"_But the worst had not even happened yet,"_ Revan continued. _"The Sith returned. After the conflict with the Mandalorians, the Republic had been outdrained and weakened. _

_A fact that they had used to start a new invasion._

_After the death of Exar Kun over a thousand years earlier, his Empire had fallen into chaos and infighting._

_The Jedi and the Republic had successfully managed to assassinate him, after he was sold out by one of his own allies._

_What followed were several contenders for the throne fighting each other and the Republic at the same time._

_Of course they lost... and just a decade after Kun´s demise, the Sith had lost all of the territorial gains they made under his leadership – including Coruscant._

_In the end they retreated behind their older borders. Their remaining leaders called out a ceasefire and they had not been heard of by the Republic for centuries._

_Peace returned to the galaxy as they called it. But it was a deceptive peace, since the threat was ever removed."_

Just like in their own times, Taris thought.

"_Three years after the war with the Mandalorians, I was a member of a scouting mission by the Jedi Order to the borders of the Sith territories. _

_What we found surpassed our worst expactations. Not only knew their old enemies about the weakened state of the Republic. _

_They were preparing a new full scale war._

_But before we could return and warn the Jedi, we were discovered and captured by Sith forces and send to Moraband, the heart of their Empire._

_There I conceived a desperate plan. I knew there was nothing we could do... and as soon as the Sith would get all the information they could out of us, our lives would be forfeit._

_So I planned to pretend to join them - in an attempt to both, undermine the enemy and possible get a message out to the Republic and save our own lives._

_I __didn´t realize back then how much I underestimated the Dark Side."_

"What happened then?" Taris asked.

He was sitting alone in the depths of the mausoleum and listening to the ancient Sith Lord´s tale.

"_A few of the others agreed and went along with my plan,"_ Revan stated.

"_The others refused and paid for their convictions with their lives._

_Still, my plan worked out. Or at least so I believed. The Sith Lord overseeing our capture agreed to train me and the others in their ways._

_To this day I do not know if he had fallen for my `ruse´... or if he had already seen the Dark Side stirring up in me._

_We spend months on Moraband. I was accepted into their ranks. But only after killing one of the other student - one of my former fellow Jedi who had decided to follow me – in cold blood," _the hologram said with a simulation of visible regret.

"_It was also around that time that I discovered Exar Kun´s holocron in the archives of Moraband._

_As the war finally broke out, I led a fleet of Sith troops to a small outward Republic colony. It was a unimportant small settlement of only a few thousand colonists._

_The Sith slaughtered their barely mentionable defense forces and then killed a quarter of their civilian population... and I stood by and let them._

_I thought an early attack on a single insignificant colony could tip off the rest of the Republic and give them the chance to prepare. That the sacrifice a single small world might save the rest of the Republic. _

_I called it a necessary evil at that time."_

Taris felt a cold feeling somewhere in his gut. He remembered that he justified the actions of the Death Watch with exactly the same words.

"_I rose into the rank of a Sith Lord... by murdering the Lord who had first trained me and spared me and my remaining comrades lives._

_At that time there was only one of them left - a young former Padawan named Bastila Shaw, who became my apprentice and my lover._

_I was still following my plan to infiltrate the Sith. But now I even actually intended to use my new rank to destabilize their Empire from the inside out. _

_Or at least I deceived myself into believing that._

_I caused a power struggle under the Sith Lords and manipulated them into a civil-war. Me against them, they against each other... and all of us against the Jedi and the Republic._

_But to push my agenda, I also led attacks on Republic Worlds, wiped out entire fleets, bombed towns, caused the occupation of entire star systems... and killed millions in my wake._

_I had fallen to the Dark Side with body and soul and did not even fully realizing wnen exactly it happened._

_It was only years later when I remembered why exactly I turned in the first place. _

_It was at that time when I had created this holocron. So I can not even tell you on what side of the Force my heart had been at the end. Because it happened afterwards."_

"I understand," Taris said.

Of course the holocron could not tell him what happened to Revan after it was created. All what it knew of the events afterwards were the historical confirmed facts the AI was aware of.

"Tell me Lord Revan - with the kowledge you possess now, which side would you choose – Jedi or Sith?"

"_Quite simple – neither,"_ the holocron replied. _"Both sides are – at least by what I have seen – fundamentally flawed."_

Taris admitted this answer surprised him. Especially coming from a Sith holocron. But normally a Sith holocron would also not been stored inside the grave of a Jedi Master.

"Could you explain that more in detail?"

"_Both philosophies, if you truly followed them to their logical conclusion, would make you __less__ than human._

_The Jedi preach compassion to all living beings. But at the same time they discourage any special attachements to others – family, friends, home. They forgot that, if you don´t care about anyone specially, you have no reason to care about anybody at all. _

_Only attachment to the Force and the Order itself is encouraged. They expect their students to show compassion but give them no true reason to. That would leave them as simple drones of the system if the Jedi followed their code to the logical end."_

The hologram let these words sink in for a few moments.

"_The Sith are the opposite, but yet the same. They disregard any personal bonds for the opposite reasons. Friends, family, lovers, they all can be sacrificed for more power and the rule of the Sith Order._

_But they don´t see that power just for the sake of more power and living just for youself is empty and meaningless._

_But of course all that is just my personal experience and I might be wrong."_

But Taris felt, deep in his heart, that he agreed with Revan.

"What would be you personal solution?" he asked.

"_Allowing both sides of the Force to influence you to an degree, but let neither of them consume you. Use of both what is best but let neither control you. Let yourself show anger when it is warranted, but never forget the compassion of the Light._

_Or as I call it... finding your personal balance. But I admit that it is a concept that I myself have ever really realized. I have always been too much either the one or the other – Jedi or Sith."_

"You think it is possible? To find your own personal balance between the Light Side and the Dark?" Taris asked.

"_The non force-sensitive beings do it every single day of their lives, don´t they? Of course they are different and don´t carry the same burden of corrupting power that we do._

_But yes – I might have never truly succeeded – but someone different from me, a young mind - someone who had not gone through a lifetime of indoctrination. I think someone like that could achieve it."_

There was no guaranty, Taris realized. Revan himself admitted he wasn´t sure if his theories were correct.

But still... For a long time now he had been in a quandary. He was not sure which ideal to follow, Jedi or Sith – Palpatine´s or Obi Wan´s. Neither felt truly right.

Now he saw, maybe none of them. New thoughts were coming to him.

With Revan´s knowledge and ideas, maybe he could find his completely own way. Maybe even found his own force sect some day. Maybe.

"Tell me more," he said.

* * *

****Like said before, this story is based on a Story-Challenge by timbarney110, with the idea of the protagonist being a son of Satine and Palpatine, who is being instructed by Darth Revan´s holoron.****

****I combined this concept with some of my own ideas how the characters of Revan and Exar Kun could fit into the new canon.****

****A few explanations:****

****In the new canon, there is a long period where the Old Republic had fallen and the Sith rules over the galaxy, called the Dark Age (as mentioned by Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith).****

****The Republic had then been restored with the "final" defeat of the Sith thousand years ago.****

****xxx****

****It was also stated that the Sith had created the great temples of Yavin 4 around 5000 years ago and had enslaved the Massassi race. Both things Exar Kun had done in legends.****

****So if Kun were to have a direct counterpart in the new canon, he should be set around that time. In opposite to the 4000 years ago from legends.****

****Around the same time the ancient Sith Shrine on Coruscant was said to have been created, in a time the planet had been under Sith control. (The same shrine the Jedi Tempel had been build on top of later).****

****So for this story I also go with the theory that Kun was the Sith Lord who had conquered Coruscant 5.000 years ago and probably the one who built the shrine.****

****xxx****

****On the other side what we know about the history of the new canon hints the Fall of the Old Republic to be "only" four to three thousand years ago. (Which was said to be a long fall that involved multiple wars that weakened the Republic and had possibly spanned centuries, before the Sith finally completely took over.)****

****For that reason I go by the idea that there had been at least two periods of Sith rule over Coruscant.****

****A shorter one 5.000 years ago, when the Sith Shrine had been built and a long one during the Dark Ages for at least several centuries, when `the Sith ruled the galaxy´ the last time. Somewhere between 3.500 and 1.000 years before Palpatine´s time.****

****xxx****

****The idea of Revan being a Jedi student of the mandolarien Jedi Tarre Visla from new canon is also something that just came to me and I think works well regarding Revan´s connection with the Mandalorian culture from legends.****


End file.
